UPDATE: The National Hockey League on Friday canceled the Winter Classic. Details to follow

Paging Gary Bettman.

NHL lockout: Eugene Melnyk may be fined for his public lockout comments, although the league won't disclose any punishment.

The NHL commissioner, along with league deputy commissioner Bill Daly, plans to contact Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk for his public comments on the lockout.

Melnyk told a Toronto radio station (via the Ottawa Citizen) that “we should be playing hockey by now. Everybody knows it, and we’re not.”

Bettman and Daly are the only league representatives permitted to speak publicly about the lockout—and besides, the NHL has presented a unified front among all owners during negotiations and the public relations battle.

“We intend to talk to Eugene and understand the circumstances and context of his comments before determining next steps, which depending on their nature, are generally maintained as internal league matters and not disclosed publicly in any event,” Daly wrote in an email to the newspaper. “ … “The league has a long-standing policy against club personnel speaking on collective bargaining matters. It’s a serious policy and one that is well-founded in purpose and rationale.”

Although Melnyk didn’t necessarily say anything too controversial, the newspaper notes that the league’s issue might be that the Senators owner sounded like a hockey fan, not a team owner.

“I’m extremely disappointed, like any fan, of where we are,” Melnyk said during his interview. “ … Everybody can finger point all they want, but at the end of the day, I don’t think anybody cares who’s at fault. All they know if we’re not playing hockey, why aren’t we playing hockey?”